FoodNet

A manual of home-making

1919

Page 256

Presented as published in 1919. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
''Swells.'' — ^Imperfectly sterilized foods often produce gas, which bulge-s the ends of cans and sometirae^s causes the can to burst. This is more Ukely to occur in the case of those foods that contain the least acid and are most difficult to sterilize, such as corn. Reputable distributors will accept such ^oods, known as '* swells/' if the swelling has occurred within a time limit set at the date of sale, and will reimburse the buyer to the amount of the bill. It is difficult for the small buyer to return such packapjes to the retail dealer for credit unless he can prove that he has had the j^oods but a short time and has kept thera in a cool place. Quantities of swelled cans are returned constantly to packers and tlistributoi*s, and unscrupulous handlers of such goods are known to have returnetl them to the market by the proc&ss of puncturing the can along tlic side to allow the escape of gas, then re-heatinp;, re-sealing, and re-labeling, Such prac- tice may be detected on opc^ning the can by the presence of the punctured and soldereil spot. Needless to say the use of food 80 processed is most unsafe* Labels and trade names or brands. The Interests of the consumer necessitate that the label shall declare the name of the packing company, the place of packing, the weight of contents, the amount of liquid, the me- dium of the pack (water or sirup), the grade of the product, and the name and address of the distributors or jobbers. All this should appear whether the goods are packed in the state where they are sokl or in another state. The date wlien packed should be stamped in the tin, as the word *' sanitary" now is in some cans. In order that the statement regarding gra^le of gootls may not lie misleading, it is ne(!essary that ti-ad** names of grades have uniform significance for packers and tliat the use of the uni-' form grading methods and nomenclature 1ji* required by law. At present only experience enables one to know just how good I 1 I d 452 A MANUAL OF HOME-MAKING is the ^'best" grade of any given packer'8 product. All ''best*' grades are not now by any means equal If the definitionfs of the grades are printed in fine type on the label, it 18 helpful to the buyer. The consumer niim;lit te aided further by the color of the label declaring the grade of the package contents. Thus a white laljel might bo u.sed for products of the highe^st grade, and red, blue* green, yellow in the order of decreasing quality. Tlie business of determining grades would necessarily be an annual .matter^ and eouM prolmbly best Ije done by a jointH*omiiiittee representing the producers, the packing interests, and the fWeral govermnent. Qimntity mlue.